I own a 2004 Ford F150 5.4L Triton lemon like many others that have complained before me. I first noticed a diesel like noise coming from the vehicle from the right side and took it to a trusted mechanic in town and he informed me that the Cam Lifter was about to go about a month ago. I decided to just drive the vehicle around town due to a quote of $2,500 to fix the timing problem that is common with a Triton motor. The big one happened a couple of days ago while starting the vehicle. The motor sounded like hell as it rattled and barely ran. I got it down to my trusted mechanic and he said, "I told you so." In other words 5.4L Triton motors are junk. He offered to install a new Triton 5.4L motor in the rig for about $5,000 and I declined and offered to sell my mechanics special for $3,000. Why would I want to go through a faulty motor issue like many others have again? It's cheaper to cut my losses and move on to a mechanical motor that doesn't have a zillion complaints. Ford should be embarrassed to put their name on an engine that isn't tough at all. I also support a class action suit to help customers who have suffered financial loss from an inferior built motor that Ford should not have put into their Trucks in the first place.

Don Talbot

Wenatchee, WA

I have a 2004 Ford F150 5.4 V8 Triton and I just spent $1500 dollars on a tune-up for the truck! It's not just my engine, it's every one of these engines. Check out this motor and see for yourselves what is happening.

It was running rough so I took it to my local mechanic. He called me and said there is a TSB on this engine and the tune-up will be $700. Then he couldn't get the plugs out so we paid to have it towed to Ford and they pulled 4 broken plugs for another $700 Towed it back to the mechanic to finish the job.

500 miles later I lost the motor. They scoped it at another Ford dealer and said the first cylinder piston's head looked like the surface of the moon? They told me only a piece of hardened steel or ceramic could do that to a piston.

Still working the equation. Spent $1500 then lost the motor. Ouch. Hurts my comedy tour.

Johnny Biscuit

http://comedybailout.blogspot.com Lighten up, choose happy!

I had previously posted this as it first happened last year. I'm glad both times I was on a side street and not a freeway as the vehicle just stops when the wrench light comes on. Even though the warranty is expired I have no choice but to take it to the dealer next week to get it checked.

Update from Jul 10, 2009: I had previously posted this as it first happened last year. I'm glad both times I was on a side street and not a freeway as the vehicle just stops when the wrench light comes on. Even though the warranty is expired I have no choice but to take it to the dealer next week to get it checked. I took it to the dealer; they could not find info in the computer. They did various tests and suggested replacing the throttle body and reprogram pcm. As I'm leery of the truck failing on a freeway, I approved at a total cost of $484.72. I did file a complaint with the NTSB as I found similar complaints on the internet. Instead of going into ""limp mode" to get somewhere safe, the engine just quits. I don't know if NTSB will investigate, but I believe it's a seriouc problem.